OK, here we are with our first review! As you probably saw in the title, today's subject is Fairy Tower. Released in 2007 by LittleWing, Fairy Tower is supported for Windows XP, Vista & 7 or Mac OS 10.3.9 to 10.7.5. This table was slow going for me at first, but I really warmed to it once I gained some vague clue of what I was supposed to do. Now, here's the breakdown for each element of what, IMO, makes a video pin:
Coding Integrity:
As far as I can tell, there are no show-stopping or even major bugs in Fairy Tower. The only thing that might be a bug is that the flipper sounds disappear if too many other sounds are going on, but I'm not sure if that's deliberate or not. The game is a model of stability on my MacBook Pro—I don't think it's crashed even once.
Table Layout:
Fairy Tower's layout has plenty of shots for the player to make—I count around 8 major shots and 2 secondary shots. The primary shots are:
-The tower ramp (Used to cash in orbs & fairy bonuses, to start Quick Multiball and Tower Multiball, to rack up visits for rewards and to collect Fairy bonuses and Tower Jackpots; Wyburn must be cleared with a shot if lowered; kicks out to Ent habitrail)
-The Wyvern Rune drop targets (Used to collect Wyvern Runes and the Wind Orb)
-The Lite Souvenir drop targets (Used to light Souvenir Lights at the Dwarf mini-orbit)
-The Dwarf mini-orbit (Used to cash in lit Souvenirs, start Dwarf Multiball and collect the Terra Orb; kicks out to Ent habitrail when Souvenir is collected)
-The Ent lane (Used to start Ent Multiball and collect the Light Orb; kicks out to Ent habitrail)
-The Water Orb ramp (Used to collect the Water Orb and to increase end-of-ball bonus multipliers)
-The Water Orb stand-up targets (Used to light the Water Orb at the Water Orb ramp)
-The right orbit (Used for collecting Quick Millions & Tower Jackpot multipliers and to make shots to the Golem Sinkhole)
Two other shots you'll occasionally need to make are:
-The Secret Dungeon lane (Caroms through the bumpers when the Secret Dungeon is lit to collect bonuses and add balls during multiball rounds; kicks out to Ent habitrail)
-The Kickback drop targets (Relight unlit outlanes and provides a brief ball saver; also hide a sinkhole that kicks out to the upper right flipper)
I can't say enough good things about this layout—shots are challenging without being certain death, no target feels like a waste of space and shots from the upper right flipper are always satisfying to make. One complaint I have is that certain shots (the lower Water Orb stand-up and the Kickback drops) are very tricky to hit, usually requiring lucky caroms to do so.
Rules:
The ruleset does an excellent job of making your objectives clear. The object of the game is to collect all 12 of Fairy Tower's lost treasures by starting Tower Multiballs. To do this, you must find the four Orbs by completing the shots outlined above, then return them to the tower. Collecting four Souvenirs will start Dwarf Multiball, while four shots to the Ent Lane will start Ent Multiball; both of these are 2-ball multiballs whose respective shots are qualified for 100K plus (up to 500K) bonuses if their respective Orbs are collected while at least 2 balls are in play. These rounds may be stacked with one another as well as with Quick Multiball and any iteration of Tower Multiball; if activated during another multiball, they will kick an additional ball into play when they start. Orbs may not be returned to Fairy Tower during any multiball round.
Fairy Tower has four faces, each of which corresponds to one of the four Orbs. If the face corresponding to one of the orbs you have collected is facing towards you, the Start Tower Multi arrow will flash. Shooting the ball into Fairy Tower will then start Quick Multiball, a 2-ball multiball where the inner left inlane qualifies to light the right orbit for a Quick Million.
Normally, you receive one item per set of Orbs returned to Fairy Tower, along with 500K to your end-of-ball bonus, but if you return all four Orbs at once, you instead start Super Tower Multiball, which returns three items, grants the upcoming tower visits bonus, doubles the base jackpot and kicks an additional ball into play, starting with a total of four balls instead of only three. Regardless of whether you started regular or Super Tower Multiball, the inner left inlane qualifies for lighting the right orbit throughout the round; when lit, the right orbit will increase the multiplier for the jackpot up to 4x or light Quick Million if the multiplier is already maxed.
Returning all 12 items starts Ultimate Tower Multiball. I'm not sure of too many specifics on this one, having never achieved it, but I'll be sure to let you know more the moment that that is no longer the case.
I apologize for that long rundown—LittleWing's instructions can be a little stilted at times and they're not as detailed for Fairy Tower as for some others, so I felt the need to go into some more depth as to how exactly things work on this one. This will probably happen to a lesser extent in future LittleWing reviews and will only happen rarely in other reviews.
Presentation:
Fairy Tower is a very visually arresting table. The color palette leans fairly heavily on blue and yellow in the center of the playfield, which Fairy Tower itself contrasts with to marvelous effect. The Ent also sticks out in a good way, which is very important, because as you saw in my rundown of Fairy Tower's layout, 3 of the 8 main shots kick out there. The graphics aren't the slickest I've ever seen, but given that LittleWing is basically two people, this is more than forgivable.
The music will seem jarring at first, but it really is what puts Fairy Tower over the top. How many of you would list accordion, banjo and flute in any given order as the 3 instruments you most associate with fantasy soundtracks? That's what I thought, but amazingly, LittleWing make it work! The callouts work perfectly with the offbeat soundtrack to reinforce the light-heartedness of it all, while the flippers sound VERY powerful here.
Final Verdict:
Fairy Tower's highly unbalanced scoring may turn some people off, but if you can look past that, you'll find a very well-constructed shooter's pin that rewards careful, intelligent play. Overall, I give this one 4 pinballs out of 5.
Strategy, Tips & Tricks:
Go for Super Tower Multiball! It can be a challenge, but you can do it with careful play and good accuracy & the rewards are well worth it.
Limit how many shots you make to Fairy Tower outside of Tower Multiballs. If I'm interpreting the rules correctly, then you get whatever the next Visiting Tower award would be for starting Super Tower Multiball. The award for 10 Tower Visits is an Extra Ball, so if I'm right about this, then you want to stretch those 10 shots out as long as possible. Also, Quick Multiball is a joke compared to Super Tower Multiball, so I tend not to pursue it. The only possible exception to this is when you're spotted either the Terra Orb or Light Orb after a Tower Multiball and you want to open up the possibility of a multiball stack.
Stack the Ent and Dwarf Multiballs! Not only do you get a third ball, but you also refresh used kickbacks, get a new ball saver and have the opportunity to work towards two sets of bonuses, which can add up to big points if your aim is true. Also, remember that you can start Dwarf & Ent Multiball while a Tower Multiball is running to similar, but more pronounced, effect.
Next time on The Pinball Apprentice: Gotta play 'em all! Pokemon!
Coding Integrity:
As far as I can tell, there are no show-stopping or even major bugs in Fairy Tower. The only thing that might be a bug is that the flipper sounds disappear if too many other sounds are going on, but I'm not sure if that's deliberate or not. The game is a model of stability on my MacBook Pro—I don't think it's crashed even once.
Table Layout:
Fairy Tower's layout has plenty of shots for the player to make—I count around 8 major shots and 2 secondary shots. The primary shots are:
-The tower ramp (Used to cash in orbs & fairy bonuses, to start Quick Multiball and Tower Multiball, to rack up visits for rewards and to collect Fairy bonuses and Tower Jackpots; Wyburn must be cleared with a shot if lowered; kicks out to Ent habitrail)
-The Wyvern Rune drop targets (Used to collect Wyvern Runes and the Wind Orb)
-The Lite Souvenir drop targets (Used to light Souvenir Lights at the Dwarf mini-orbit)
-The Dwarf mini-orbit (Used to cash in lit Souvenirs, start Dwarf Multiball and collect the Terra Orb; kicks out to Ent habitrail when Souvenir is collected)
-The Ent lane (Used to start Ent Multiball and collect the Light Orb; kicks out to Ent habitrail)
-The Water Orb ramp (Used to collect the Water Orb and to increase end-of-ball bonus multipliers)
-The Water Orb stand-up targets (Used to light the Water Orb at the Water Orb ramp)
-The right orbit (Used for collecting Quick Millions & Tower Jackpot multipliers and to make shots to the Golem Sinkhole)
Two other shots you'll occasionally need to make are:
-The Secret Dungeon lane (Caroms through the bumpers when the Secret Dungeon is lit to collect bonuses and add balls during multiball rounds; kicks out to Ent habitrail)
-The Kickback drop targets (Relight unlit outlanes and provides a brief ball saver; also hide a sinkhole that kicks out to the upper right flipper)
I can't say enough good things about this layout—shots are challenging without being certain death, no target feels like a waste of space and shots from the upper right flipper are always satisfying to make. One complaint I have is that certain shots (the lower Water Orb stand-up and the Kickback drops) are very tricky to hit, usually requiring lucky caroms to do so.
Rules:
The ruleset does an excellent job of making your objectives clear. The object of the game is to collect all 12 of Fairy Tower's lost treasures by starting Tower Multiballs. To do this, you must find the four Orbs by completing the shots outlined above, then return them to the tower. Collecting four Souvenirs will start Dwarf Multiball, while four shots to the Ent Lane will start Ent Multiball; both of these are 2-ball multiballs whose respective shots are qualified for 100K plus (up to 500K) bonuses if their respective Orbs are collected while at least 2 balls are in play. These rounds may be stacked with one another as well as with Quick Multiball and any iteration of Tower Multiball; if activated during another multiball, they will kick an additional ball into play when they start. Orbs may not be returned to Fairy Tower during any multiball round.
Fairy Tower has four faces, each of which corresponds to one of the four Orbs. If the face corresponding to one of the orbs you have collected is facing towards you, the Start Tower Multi arrow will flash. Shooting the ball into Fairy Tower will then start Quick Multiball, a 2-ball multiball where the inner left inlane qualifies to light the right orbit for a Quick Million.
Normally, you receive one item per set of Orbs returned to Fairy Tower, along with 500K to your end-of-ball bonus, but if you return all four Orbs at once, you instead start Super Tower Multiball, which returns three items, grants the upcoming tower visits bonus, doubles the base jackpot and kicks an additional ball into play, starting with a total of four balls instead of only three. Regardless of whether you started regular or Super Tower Multiball, the inner left inlane qualifies for lighting the right orbit throughout the round; when lit, the right orbit will increase the multiplier for the jackpot up to 4x or light Quick Million if the multiplier is already maxed.
Returning all 12 items starts Ultimate Tower Multiball. I'm not sure of too many specifics on this one, having never achieved it, but I'll be sure to let you know more the moment that that is no longer the case.
I apologize for that long rundown—LittleWing's instructions can be a little stilted at times and they're not as detailed for Fairy Tower as for some others, so I felt the need to go into some more depth as to how exactly things work on this one. This will probably happen to a lesser extent in future LittleWing reviews and will only happen rarely in other reviews.
Presentation:
Fairy Tower is a very visually arresting table. The color palette leans fairly heavily on blue and yellow in the center of the playfield, which Fairy Tower itself contrasts with to marvelous effect. The Ent also sticks out in a good way, which is very important, because as you saw in my rundown of Fairy Tower's layout, 3 of the 8 main shots kick out there. The graphics aren't the slickest I've ever seen, but given that LittleWing is basically two people, this is more than forgivable.
The music will seem jarring at first, but it really is what puts Fairy Tower over the top. How many of you would list accordion, banjo and flute in any given order as the 3 instruments you most associate with fantasy soundtracks? That's what I thought, but amazingly, LittleWing make it work! The callouts work perfectly with the offbeat soundtrack to reinforce the light-heartedness of it all, while the flippers sound VERY powerful here.
Final Verdict:
Fairy Tower's highly unbalanced scoring may turn some people off, but if you can look past that, you'll find a very well-constructed shooter's pin that rewards careful, intelligent play. Overall, I give this one 4 pinballs out of 5.
Strategy, Tips & Tricks:
Go for Super Tower Multiball! It can be a challenge, but you can do it with careful play and good accuracy & the rewards are well worth it.
Limit how many shots you make to Fairy Tower outside of Tower Multiballs. If I'm interpreting the rules correctly, then you get whatever the next Visiting Tower award would be for starting Super Tower Multiball. The award for 10 Tower Visits is an Extra Ball, so if I'm right about this, then you want to stretch those 10 shots out as long as possible. Also, Quick Multiball is a joke compared to Super Tower Multiball, so I tend not to pursue it. The only possible exception to this is when you're spotted either the Terra Orb or Light Orb after a Tower Multiball and you want to open up the possibility of a multiball stack.
Stack the Ent and Dwarf Multiballs! Not only do you get a third ball, but you also refresh used kickbacks, get a new ball saver and have the opportunity to work towards two sets of bonuses, which can add up to big points if your aim is true. Also, remember that you can start Dwarf & Ent Multiball while a Tower Multiball is running to similar, but more pronounced, effect.
Next time on The Pinball Apprentice: Gotta play 'em all! Pokemon!
